Keenan Is in a Just-Win Situation

Say what you want about controversial Mike Keenan but the well-traveled coach already has the Florida Panthers believing they’re ready to make a run for the Southeast Division title.

Florida headed into Monday’s game against the New York Rangers riding its first two-game winning streak in nearly 13 months. The Panthers, who have the next-to-worst record in the Eastern Conference and hadn’t won two in succession since Nov. 15-17, 2000, made a major statement with consecutive road victories over New Jersey and the New York Islanders in less than 24 hours over the weekend.

“We’re going in the right direction,” Florida right wing Pavel Bure told the Miami Herald, after scoring empty-net goals against the Devils and Islanders. “It was really big because we hadn’t won two games in a row this season and we played against two really good hockey clubs.”

The Panthers understand that there’s a huge gap between them and the Detroit Red Wings, but in the weak Southeast Division, they know they are only one winning streak away from getting into contention with Carolina and Washington. That’s why majority owner Alan Cohen took the chance on Keenan, setting aside the coach’s win-at-all-costs/stir-the-corporate-pot reputation and concentrating on his history of turning young teams around.

“Whatever he deserves or is, if he wins the Stanley Cup, whatever he wants to be is fine by me,” Cohen said of Keenan after hiring him to replace Duane Sutter earlier this month.

The Panthers seem to be responding to Keenan. They were 3-3 under his direction after Monday’s loss and they’ve become a more balanced team.

Rookie Kristian Huselius’ scoring ability has taken some pressure off Bure, and the Panthers’ defensemen have been doing a better job of keeping traffic away from goaltender Roberto Luongo.

“I don’t recall situations where there was a rebound opportunity where they were able to take a shot,” Luongo said after Florida’s victory over the Islanders. “That means our defensemen did a great job in front of the net.”

Florida is hoping that Luongo develops into an all-star under Keenan. Cohen didn’t pull the rug from under Sutter until after Luongo started to complain.

“When Roberto started to get really frustrated, that was important to me,” Cohen told the Miami Herald. “He’s one of the cornerstones of the organization.... That was a lot of why I brought in Mike, the [three] Vezinas [trophies going to the season’s best goaltender under Keenan].”

Amazing Tenkrat

Not much was made of the trade that sent forward Petr Tenkrat from the Mighty Ducks to Nashville earlier this season. Most around the league believed that Tenkrat’s game was shot after he’d scored only five goals in 46 games with Anaheim last season. But he showed he still has his touch--at least sometimes--by scoring his first NHL hat trick in the Predators’ 5-2 victory over Chicago on Saturday.

Goaltender Mike Dunham’s .953 save percentage may be the key reason for Nashville’s five-game unbeaten streak, but Tenkrat’s effort can’t be overlooked, considering that he hadn’t scored in his first 20 games with the Predators.

Tenkrat scored Nashville’s third, fourth and fifth goals in a span of 13:55 stretching over the second and third periods.

“I was very happy with one score,” he said. “To get two more in was very surprising. Everybody was congratulating me. It was pretty exciting.”

The Predators are 3-0-2 over their last five games, and their franchise-record home unbeaten streak is at nine. Nashville is 7-0-2 over that stretch, and the Predators’ next four games are at home.

“It’s kind of amazing that we haven’t lost at home since October,” Predator captain Tom Fitzgerald said. “We just want to keep it going. I think there are things we can still improve on.”

Home Disadvantage

One explanation for the Philadelphia Flyers’ consistency problems is that they are mediocre at home.

With a 6-6-2 record at First Union Center, the Flyers no longer have a home-ice advantage, and it’s starting to bother forward Jeremy Roenick.

“There is a curse in this building,” Roenick said about the First Union Center. “We are outshooting teams dramatically. They have one go off their legs and one go off our defenseman’s feet.”

The Flyers have yet to mount a two-game home winning streak, and their fans, being Philadelphians, have been showing their displeasure.

“We have a lot of pressure in this building,” Roenick said. “The fans don’t have any tolerance for us being behind. When you start hearing the boos coming, that deflates you.”

Perreault At Home

Former King Yanic Perreault seems to have found a home back home, with the Montreal Canadiens. In his first 32 games with Montreal, Perreault, a native of nearby Sherbrooke, Quebec, has 14 goals and 26 points, and has played a key role in the Canadiens’ recent resurgence.

“I’m just glad to be here and be part of this team,” said Perreault, off to his fastest start since he scored 28 goals for the Kings in 1997-98. “They’re using me a lot, so it’s more fun for me this year.”

Perreault is making his biggest impact in the faceoff circle. After leading the league in faceoffs the last two seasons, Perreault is near the top again with a 60.78% success rate.

“I didn’t know what to expect,” said Perreault, who signed a three-year free-agent contract with Montreal worth $2.8 million after recording 24 goals and a career-high 52 points last season with Toronto.

“There’s always an adjustment period when you go to a new team and I didn’t know how long it would take.... So far, it’s going well.”

Line Shifts

* Gordie Clark, the New York Islanders’ assistant general manager, recently denied rumors that the team was close to anything involving Chicago’s Tony Amonte, but New York Newsday reported that the Blackhawks would like to trade Amonte before Wednesday’s holiday roster freeze. Amonte is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent after the season and is at an impasse on negotiations for a contract extension with Chicago.

* The St. Louis Blues put more pressure on teams with Slovak Olympians, such as the Kings, when they decided to allow center Pavol Demitra to play one preliminary-round game at the Salt Lake City Winter Games.

St. Louis followed the lead of the Phoenix Coyotes, who recently said center Michal Handzus, left wing Ladislav Nagy and defenseman Radoslav Suchy can play in Slovakia’s game Feb. 9 against Germany.

Demitra, the Blues’ leading scorer, will be available for Slovakia’s game against Latvia on Feb. 10.

* Detroit defenseman Nicklas Lidstrom leads the World All-Stars with 113,352 votes and Detroit winger Brendan Shanahan leads the North American players in voting with 97,949. Calgary’s Jarome Iginla, who has led the league in goals and overall scoring for most of the season, is not on the all-star ballot and is not in the top 12 among North American wingers in votes.

Iginla, however, was included among the 23 players named to the Canadian Olympic team.

Quote of the Week

“It’s hard to complain when the team is winning, but we’ve had a tough time. The past three games, we haven’t scored and it’s frustrating.But at the same time, so many other guys have played so well for us, so it’s hard to get [upset].”

Toronto forward Mikael Renberg, on the scoring problems he and linemate Jonas Hogland are having.